Gun'Yūkakkyo
It has been said that "water seeks its own level." That without external influence its surface will soon settle into tranquil equilibrium. Learned men have come to the realization throughout history that power also seeks its own level, yet tranquility can never be its natural state, for only chaos reigns at the pinnacle of mankind's ambition. For this reason, the practice of Spiritual Heritage has found fruition in the Land of Whispering Bone. However, only time may tell if the cultural rituals of rei isan will safeguard precious national treasures or jeopardize that which is far more important. Shadowy forces have arisen from the underbelly of that prosperous nation. And their ambitions seek a level this world has never witnessed. History In the War Torn Era, Kittu Batista sought to garner a limitless base of knowledge from which to draw unimaginable power. He developed the Senjingan for the purpose of safeguarding this power. Furthermore, he established the Batista Clan to pass on this heritage so that his progeny would one day come to possess all knowledge and therefore all power. However, he was betrayed as his clan rebelled against his rather ruthless methods of carrying out his ambitious objectives. Batista lost his life when his own children sought to rid the world of his existence. They murdered his body, but they made one critical error. Knowing him to be quite arrogant, they never considered that Batista might plan for such a contingency of his own children turning against him. Had they truly understood Batista's wicked mind, they would've known he had never planned to merely pass on his knowledge alone to the generations that follow. From the very beginning of his quest, he'd provided a path beyond death so that he'd always be with all those who reaped the seeds Batista had sown. In this way began the ill gotten legacy of spiritual heritage that would shake the shinobi world to its very foundations upon Batista's return. Objectives While the overall objectives of this organization remain unknown, the objectives of its founder remain unchanged from the time before his initial death and presumably mutually align with the larger organization. Rei Isan Reiju The practice of Rei Isan or spiritual heritage requires a ritual that seals the departing soul into another living being. This ritual is referred to as Reiju. Practitioners often write the term 'reiju': 霊授 - the 授 character implying: to give / grant / confer / impart etc. However, there remains a duality to this concept. 霊授 represents the first part of this duality. The secondary complimentary conceptualization can be rendered as 霊受 (also pronounced 'reiju') - the 受 character implies: to accept / undergo / get / receive etc. Therefore the meaning of the ritual becomes clear in the name - Reiju: 'to confer/receive a spiritual gift. In this way the practice of spiritual heritage is realized in the shared spiritual experience. The ritual varies depending on the particular practitioners taking part in the ritual. Typically a jinshū candidate is immobilized in some ritualistic fashion. A shimenawa (標縄・注連縄・七五三縄, literally "enclosing rope") is tied either around the candidate or altar upon which his body is situated. This rope is usually made from straw and some amount of both the target and the bushin's blood, cells, dna, etc. The blood of the still living bushin is drained and mixed with a secret formula made from baku venom and excretions from lindeworm larvae. Tattoos are painted on the targets body from this mixture. The bushin's body dies and his soul is immediately sealed into the jinshū's body. Goshintai Practitioners bestow a person who has undergone the reiju ritual with the tital or god body. This name is not commonly known to outsiders who have no such practices. Outsiders usually refer to such individuals as Jinshū is an alternate pronunciation of kannushi a shinto priest said to be a living shintai, who acts as a kami intermediary. This alternate pronunciation distinguishes the usage of this word. The goshintai or jinshū exhibits all of the capabilities of the soul sealed within plus his own. This is analogous to the capabilities and traits of a jinchuuriki. Therefore a perfect jinshū exhibits jinchuuriki like advantages such as genjutsu resistance and consciousness swapping. Bushin The soul sealed with in the jinshū is referred to as a While most bushin are sealed with their consent and therefore eschew any further harmonization or subjugation rituals, as those performed by jinchuuriki seeking to master their bijū, this is not always the case. Often enemy bushin fall victim to capture during times of war. Disciples of Rei Isan strip these individuals of their souls to obtain unique foreign capabilities for themselves. In such an instance, a subsequent subjugation ritual or technique, as practiced by Kumogakure or Uzumaki clan respectively, must be performed some time after the reiju ritual. Usually this would occur when the jinshū reaches maturity and has acquired the necessary skill level for a successful ritual. Jinshū hosts to malevolent kami who've not undergone such a ritual suffer similar consequences as imperfect jinchūriki. Members Kittu Batista.png|Founder - Ōshō Gun'Yūkakkyo.jpg|Warlords - Bushin Ōshō.png|Kittu Batista - Ōshō: Rei Isan Kinshō.jpg|Leader of the Gold Warlords Gun'Yūkakkyo_2.jpg|Warlords - Gold Ginshō.jpg|Leader of the Silver Warlords Gun'Yūkakkyo_1.png|Warlords - Silver Trivia I conceived of the notion of "spiritual heritage" some time during part one after Kishi introduced Edo Tensei. With the stroke of a pen, Kishi had shown us that a soul sealed in a human body confers it abilities on the host body AND that when a soul is sealed elsewhere it cannot be summoned by such means. It also showed us what happened when enemies acquire the secret jutsu a village fails to safeguard. It seemed to me that nations might adopt the practice of sealing the soul of powerful individuals in living hosts for four reasons: 1) to prevent enemies from acquiring their abilities through nefarious jutsu such as Edo Tensei, 2) to preserve critical abilities (Sharingan, Mokuton, etc) and also the combat experience of fabled warriors from one generation to the next, and 3) to procure coveted capabilities (Jinton, Shikotsumyaku, etc), as well as, intel from foreign sources, and 4) to provide jinchuuriki like advantages (genjutsu resistance) to active shonobi. So many of Konoha's problems can be traced back to the failure to secure and pass on techniques to later generations. Konoha suffered largely do to early reliance on certain jutsu that they later failed to retain. Minato died for this reason. Konoha had to rely on a previously hostile village in a time of crises to tame the Kyuubi for this reason. What if they had sealed Hashirama's soul upon his death within someone of the current generation? They could pass down his abilities in a similar manner as jinchuuriki to someone like the 3rd, who then adds to it his own techniques. Minato wouldn't have had to die. The 3rd could've easily dealt with the Kyuubi without such drastic measures as summoning the death god. This could be considered a reversal of the methodology behind Fusha Tensei. I've gotten into long drawn out arguments with people over the years pulling nebulous objections out of their asses that "That's not possible only bijuu can be sealed like that," "Edo Tensei kills the target so that wouldn't work," "no just because Minato could fix Naruto's seal doesn't mean he could break him out of genjutsu," yada yada so on and so forth. As time went on, Kishi confirmed just about everything I'd considered. Minato sealing his chakra inside Naruto was a major confirmation that I'd been looking for. Transmigrants come along and add to the confirmation. Then low and behold Obito possesses (for lack of a better word) Kakashi giving him all of his abilities in almost exactly the manner I'd conceived. Suddenly I find myself wishing I'd finished and published all those half written fan fics years ago just so I could go I told you so, but whatever. It's good to be vindicated.